


A Paws In Time

by DarkCellar



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, kylux - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Armitage Hux Needs A Hug, Cat Dads, Cats, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluffy Ending, Gay, Healthy Relationships, I Ship It, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Jealousy, Kissing, Kylo Ren Needs a Hug, Kylux - Freeform, Love, M/M, Millicent the cat - Freeform, Pets, Post-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Protective Kylo Ren, Random & Short, Romance, Romantic Fluff, Short, The Last Jedi - Freeform, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-13 15:06:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14114976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkCellar/pseuds/DarkCellar
Summary: When Hux brings up the idea of the two of them getting a cat, Kylo isn’t exactly thrilled with the concept. And later on, it seems as though the creature, which Hux dubs Millicent, is going out of it’s way to make Kylo’s life hell.But that’s surely just Kylo’s imagination . . .. . . right?





	A Paws In Time

Hux fell back with a gasp to his side of the bed. His heart was still racing and he tried desperately to control his embarrassingly-loud breathing. Either Kylo was getting more talented, or Hux was getting too old to withstand such intense pleasure anymore.

Both, probably.

Still, Hux couldn’t really complain. He was always trying to eat healthy and stay fit, and he could think of no other form of ‘exercise’ that he enjoyed more than this.

“So, I love you,” Kylo said, after a long spell of silence, half-mumbling the words into his pillow. “Is it too soon for me to say that?”

Hux rolled his eyes, before turning over and putting his arms around Kylo. Kissing his shoulder, he said,

“After 1 year of sexual relations, 4 years of actual dating, and 2 years of marriage? Yes, definitely too soon.”

“An entire year? You treated me like your whore for a YEAR, before entering into an honorable relationship with me? Cruel, Hux. So cruel.”

“You don’t want to get into ‘cruel’ with me right now. ‘Cruel’ is me proposing to you in the most romantic way imaginable, and you getting so excited you ‘accidentally’ drop the ring into the ocean. The ring I spent 3 entire paychecks on! THAT’S cruel!”

Kylo chuckled and shrugged. “We got it back, didn’t we?”

“Yes, after making those poor stormtroopers dive for it for nearly 6 hours!”

“Oh, they were lucky. You offered them 5 paid vacation days, to stay and help.”

“Yes. PAID vacation days. Paid for by, once again, yours truly.”

Kylo sighed and turned around in Hux’s arms, facing him. 

“You’ve brought up money an awful lot, here. I get the feeling that you’re trying to tell me I owe you something.”

“Apt.”

“Well, what do you want?”

“I want a cat.”

Kylo’s eyes widened, and he couldn’t help the look of disgust that slid over his face.

“A - - cat?”

Hux nodded eagerly. “Yes, a cat.”

Kylo was quiet, not really knowing how to respond. He had never been much of a pet person, but had always assumed that if he and Hux ever did get one, it’d at least be a dog.

But, a cat?

“It wouldn’t be any trouble at all. And you wouldn’t have to do a thing, I’d take care of it all on my own. I promise.”

Kylo couldn’t help but smile at that.

“You sound like a kid, asking his father for a pet.”

Hux leaned closer into Kylo, his hand sliding beneath the covers and towards Kylo’s thighs. 

“If it would sweeten the pot for you, at all, I’ll gladly call you _daddy_.”

Kylo gasped and squirmed, as Hux’s hand became bolder. Now Hux had crawled on top of him, giving him slow, teasing kisses.

“Come on, _daddy_ ; I’ve been good. Don’t you think I’ve been good?” 

The motion of his hand sped up, and he coupled it with biting Kylo’s neck, right underneath his ear. Kylo moaned much more loudly than Hux expected him to.

“Y-you’ve been g-good,” Kylo agreed, closing his eyes and tilting his head back.

Hux pulled back the blanket and began kissing and biting down Kylo’s chest, moving slowly towards where his hand was already working.

“Good enough to get what I want?”

By now, all of the coherent thoughts had left Kylo’s head entirely. He knew Hux had just asked him a question, but he honestly couldn’t make sense of the words. So he just nodded, lifting up his hips and silently urging Hux onward.

“Then say it. Say, ‘Hux, we’ll get a cat.’”

At this point, Kylo would have repeated anything.

“Hux, we’ll get a cat.”

Hux’s mouth was dangerously close to the excited part of Kylo, now, and the force-user all but screamed with anticipation. Looking up at him, Hux whispered,

“Do you promise?”

Kylo nodded, his eyes still closed. “Maker, I promise.”

Hux smiled, and before Kylo could register what was happening, Hux had gotten off of Kylo, rolled back to his own side of the bed, and pulled the covers snugly over himself.

“Good. We’ll go tomorrow, after our shifts. Goodnight!”

Kylo whimpered in disbelief. He stared at Hux’s back, hoping this was just more of him teasing - - but no such luck. Within minutes Hux was snoring.

With a sigh, Kylo laid down as well, covering himself up. 

A cat.

. . . . .

“As you can see, we have a wide variety of felines here, from Rodia, Tattoine, Lothal, Jakku - - “

Hux was listening to the pet store owner intently, asking a multitude of questions; but Kylo was just standing and nodding.

Being in a place like this made him vastly uncomfortable. He didn’t want Hux to know it, but when he was a child, Kylo had had a particularly tough time with the concept of pets. His parents had procured for him a variety of animals in order to help teach him compassion, and responsibility. Yet for whatever reason, no matter how nice he was, how patient, no animal seemed to like him. He was scratched when he tried to pet, he was bitten when he set down food bowls. Once, his father had gotten a “tamed” rancor from one of his smuggling buddies, and Kylo nearly lost his life to the “tamed” beast after his father “jokingly” pushed him all the way into the pit during feeding time.

There weren’t any threatening-looking animals here, but that still didn’t ease Kylo’s tension.

He wandered away from Hux to look at the birds. There were huge, colorful birds of all kinds, flying around in a glass enclosure. One was close to the wall, sitting on a small tree branch.

“Hey, little guy,” Kylo said softly, tapping the glass. 

His jumped back in a panic, his heart thudding, when the bird answered back, _”I’m a **girl** , you nerdherder!_”

“Kylo!”, Hux called out from the other room.

“S-sorry, ma’am,” Kylo stuttered, red-faced, before joining Hux.

In Hux’s arms was a small kitten. It was orange and white, and had big blue eyes.

“I think I found one I like,” Hux said softly, cradling it. “It’s a girl. Isn’t she beautiful?”

Kylo nodded, smiling at how happy Hux seemed. “She IS lovely. What are you going to call her?”

“For some reason, she looks like a Millicent to me.”

He held the cat out towards Kylo. “Here, hold her while I go sign the papers.”

Kylo awkwardly put out his arms and let Hux lay Millicent into them.

 _It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s fine,_ Kylo chanted to himself. He cautiously pet the cat behind the ears, and relaxed a little as it purred.

“We need to find a bed, and some food as well,” Hux was telling the man at the counter.

Kylo suddenly felt a very sticky, wet warmth trickle down his arms and towards his chest. 

Was Millicent grinning, at him.?  
No.  
Of course not.

“And a litter box,” Kylo muttered.

. . . . .

 

“‘Lo, I feel like I made this blindingly simple for you. ALL you had to do, was re-heat this. Was that too much for you to handle?”

Kylo faced Hux, preparing to argue.

These past few months had felt like hell, to him. Before he knew it, a few months had turned into an entire YEAR, and Kylo STILL hadn’t adjusted to Millicent.

Millicent grew quite quickly, and in fact, she got downright fat. Her tubby body could be seen wandering around at all hours of the day or night, in their quarters, causing havoc.

Or, no, that wasn’t quite an accurate statement.

Hux, adored the cat. He showered her with endless praise and affection, constantly petting her, giving her choice bits of food, cuddling her. Kylo wasn’t 100% positive, but he could almost swear that one time, he had seen Hux actually lick the cat.

Hux was so enamored with his pet, that he seemed to turn a complete blind eye towards the bad things that Millicent did.

Like using the curtains and the backs of furniture to sharpen her claws.

Like leaving little dead bugs and rodents at the foot of their bed.

Like swatting every single piece of dry food from her bowl, along with spilling all of her water, when she was feeling ‘playful’.

And the litter box was in a league of its own. Kylo hated when it was his turn to clean it. As crazy as it sounded, he felt like Millicent KNEW when it was his turn, so that the ‘prizes’ she left were much more foul-smelling, and much larger.

In fact, there were several things that Millicent did, that seemed to be aimed directly at Kylo.

Like waking up in the mornings and finding a forest of orange hairs all over his good robes, no matter how far back he’d put them in his closet the night before.

Like finding the toes bitten out of his, HIS, not Hux’s, but HIS, slippers.

And that time Kylo had just barely stopped her from lifting her leg in the tray of ashes that he kept his and his grandfather’s helmets in.

But no matter how much he complained, Hux just wasn’t willing to listen. He maintained the stance that Millicent did NOT treat Kylo any differently than she treated Hux himself, or if she DID, that was somehow Kylo’s fault.

And tonight, had been especially infuriating.

Kylo got home before Hux, and right sway he went to put a casserole that Hux had made the day before in the oven. After it was in, he went to the refresher. By the time he came out, thick smoke was pouring from the oven, and Hux was just arriving home, cursing and running to open the windows. Kylo pulled the dish out and gaped at the stove; the temperature had been pushed up nearly twice as high as it had been when he went into the ‘fresher.

“It wasn’t me!”, Kylo shouted defensively. He pointed to where Millicent lay, spread out in the windowsill. “It was her!”

Hux crossed his arms, looking at Kylo in disgust. “Millicent. The cat. The cat jumped up, turned up the temperature in the oven - -“, he paused, shaking his head. “Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds? Honestly?”

Kylo threw himself down on the couch. “When have I lied to you, ever?”

“‘I swear, Hux; I didn’t use the Force to trip Mitaka, he just slipped!’”

“Well that doesn’t - - “

“‘I’m not the one who poured honey into the new recruits’ helmets, Hux; that must have been Lieutenant Daniels!’”

Kylo scowled. “So? That doesn’t prove I’m a liar; it proves I enjoy a good joke.”

“Do you think THIS is a good joke? Do you think I enjoy working all day to come home to no food, and - - “

“ **I** work all day too, Hux. Not just you.”

“And if I get home before you, I have dinner ready, I’ve cleaned - -“

“I DID clean!”

Hux looked around slowly. The blanket that hung over the back of the couch was wrinkled and hanging diagonally onto the floor, one of the potted plants was tipped over, the rug had little splotches of mud in it, and several coats from the closet were laying sprawled on the floor.

“Let me guess, Millicent messed up the house, too.”

“Yes,” Kylo said, defiantly. “She did.”

“That’s it, Kylo. Please get out of my sight, before I explode!”

“I didn’t do anything! Why should I have to leave!? Millicent should —“

Without another word, Hux scooped up his cat, stalked into the bedroom and slammed the door behind himself.

Hours later, after re-cleaning the mess and giving Hux sufficient time to cool off, Kylo headed timidly into the bedroom, exhausted. Hux was already asleep, and laying next to him, directly on top of Kylo’s pillow, was the cat.

“Move,” he ordered, attempting to push her away. 

She wouldn’t budge.

He tried pulling the pillow out from under her, but she shot out her paw and dug her sharp nails into his hand.

He yanked his hand back, cursing quietly to himself.

“Fine, stay there, you monster!”, he whispered. He grabbed the blanket laying on the foot of the bed and stalked back out to the living room, grudgingly settling himself on the couch.

After many uncomfortable hours of tossing and turning, he finally fell asleep.

~~

When he woke up the next morning, he was pleasantly surprised to find Hux on top of him, kissing him.

“Good morning, baby,” Hux cooed to him, continuing to pelt him with kisses.

“Morning.”

“Um, I’m sorry I lost my temper with you last night. I was just very tired and annoyed, but I had no right to take that out on you. So I’m sorry.”

Kylo used his strong arms to flip them over, until Hux was laying underneath him. He began pulling away his shirt, aggressively kissing and sucking on his neck.

“Don’t _tell_ me you’re sorry, SHOW me.”

After more touching and kissing, Kylo’s heart sped up when Hux started to unbuckle his pants. But of course, right at that moment, who should jump onto Kylo’s shoulder but Millicent.

Kylo reflexively jerked his arm and sent her flying, hoping that Hux was too preoccupied to have noticed.

But, he had.

“‘Lo! You could have hurt her!”, Hux exclaimed. He slid out from beneath Kylo and went to the cat, who was crouched and yowling softly in the corner. “Is the baby okay? Is my Milly okay?”, he asked anxiously, petting her. She purred and licked his hand.

“She’s fine. Come back here,” Kylo pleaded.

Hux sighed, stood up and shook his head. “Maybe this is for the best; it’s pretty late, we should start getting ready for work. We’ll finish this tonight, okay?”

He picked up the cat and walked with her, humming, towards the bedroom.

Cats, can’t smirk.

But Millicent was definitely looking over Hux’s shoulder at Kylo, smirking at him.

. . . . .

Candles.  
Flowers.  
Wine.  
Soft music.

Fancy food sent up from catering.

Kylo walked around the quarters, humming to himself as he straightened up. Today was a special day, and he wanted everything to look perfect.

It was his and Hux’s wedding anniversary.

He was amazed, that they had made it three entire years. More amazed that Hux didn’t get sick of him and kick him out after their first week of wedded life.

Hux would be there any minute, and Kylo hoped that all he had done would be enough to sufficiently surprise him. He hoped so; Hux could be a hard man to surprise. But Hux hadn’t even mentioned their anniversary this morning, and for this, Kylo was grateful. Not mentioning it meant that it more than likely slipped his mind, which gave Kylo a leg up.

Kylo had even taken pains to placate Millicent. He was uncharacteristically kind and gentle with her all afternoon, brushing her, petting her, speaking softly to her. And about half an hour ago, he gifted her with a brand-new toy and a large ball of catnip, which he set her down in the bedroom and shut the door, for her to play with.

At last he heard the familiar sound of Hux’s footsteps coming down the hall, and he quickly dimmed the lights sat himself down in a chair.

Hux opened the door, and stopped, his eyes going wide. He stuck his head backs into higher hallway to read the numbers on the door, thinking that he had somehow walked into the wrong place.

Unable to resist him any more, Kylo was out of his chair in one second, and pulling Hux into the room in another. He pinned him against the wall and kissed him, being unusually gentle and soft for him.

“What IS all this?”, Hux asked when Kylo released him, bewildered. 

“A surprise,” Kylo said, kissing him again. He lifted Hux up and carried him across the room, setting him at the table. “A surprise, for my king, my husband, my lover, my best friend - -“

“But why - - it’s not my birthday, is it?”

Kylo shook his head. He ducked under the table, for the box he had taped underneath. When he came back up, he was surprised that Hux had a small box in front of HIM, pulled from a jacket pocket.

“Happy Anniversary!”, the redhead cried, grinning.

“Damn!”, Kylo exclaimed, snapping his fingers. “I thought for sure I had you!”

Hux shook his head. “It’s a bit hard to just forget the best day of your entire life, sweetheart.”

Kylo used the force to pull Hux’s chair closer to his own, so that no space was between them. He leaned over and kissed Hux’s forehead.

“Gimme my present!”

Hux laughed and slid the box to Kylo, while Kylo gave his own to Hux.

Kylo got his box open first, and he gasped.

In his hand he held a clear crystal. It was tiny but Kylo could feel how powerful it was, the energy creating a noticeable heat in his palm. 

“Where in the galaxy did you GET this?”, Kylo asked in awe, turning the little gem around and around in his fingers. Kyber crystals were extraordinarily rare, the majority of them having been harvested ages ago for the creation of the Empire’s Death Stars. To find one now was a unique and wonderful thing.

“One of my men found it on the last mission I sent a squad on,” Hux explained. “I know it’s not much, but, well, you’re always going on about how you need a new crystal, so you can build a second lightsaber, so I thought —“

“I LOVE this,” Kylo whispered, placing it back in the box for safekeeping. He put his arms around Hux and hugged him hard. “Thank you, so much!”

By now Hux had gotten his own box open, and a soft gasp fell from his mouth. It was a gorgeous little cuff-charm bracelet, and each charm, upon closer inspection, had a tiny paper-holo of the two of them, during their last vacation to Naboo.

“Oh my God,” Hux mouthed softly, carefully turning the bracelet around to see all the holos, “This is amazing! It’s so - so detailed, so _perfect_.”

He turned Kylo’s face towards him and kissed him. “But not as perfect as YOU, my sweet, sexy darling.”

Kylo smiled. He took Hux’s hand and pulled him to his feet. “Dance with me?”

They went slowly around the room, Kylo leading and holding Hux as close as possible, Hux’s head resting on Kylo’s shoulder. 

“This reminds me of our honeymoon. Remember? When we danced on the Arkanis beach, in the moonlight?”

Kylo playfully shook his head No. “I remember our other dance far better. The one in the bedroom.”

Hux blushed. “That wasn’t exactly a dance.”

“No, but it sure provided a workout like one.”

Kylo dipped him backwards, then let him up slowly, staring into his eyes.

“I suddenly feel so hungry.”

He leaned over Hux and began nibbling at his neck.

“You ordered food, didn’t you?”

Kylo slipped Hux’s shirt back from his shoulder, kissing it.

“I think I’d rather have dessert, first.”

He held out his arms for Hux, and asked, “Please; may I?”

Hux smiled and allowed Kylo to lift him. Kylo began carrying him towards their room . . . and then he paused, and he cursed to himself. 

Millicent.

The cat was still shut into the bedroom.

As he carried Hux, he silently prayed that the creature wasn’t sleeping on the bed again. She was difficult and cantankerous to move when she was asleep, and HEAVY. Kylo would wager she had gained maybe 10 pounds in the past month alone, as she was now monstrously huge. For this reason, and many more, Kylo really wasn’t in the mood to fight with her.

Opening the door, however, revealed a different story.

The cat was laying in an odd position in the corner of the room, half-laying, half-crouching. It was mewing softly, and it looked up at Kylo and Hux as if to say, Help Me.

“Milly?”, Hux asked as Kylo put him down. “What’s wrong?”

He approached the cat cautiously, and for the first time ever, it hissed at Hux. Hux took a step back, frightened.

“I think she’s sick, ‘Lo. Should we take her to - -“

“That’s it, Hux. That is IT. I have HAD it with this cat, and I’m putting my foot down. She leaves here by the end of the week, and I don’t want to hear any arguments on the subject. Do you understand me?!”

“That’s not fair! I never ask you to give up the things you love, do I? I never told you to throw out your grandfathers helmet even though that thing scares me to no end, did I?!”

“GRANDFATHER’S HELMET STAYS IN ONE PLACE!”, Kylo roared at him. “It doesn’t stink up the house, it doesn’t make noises, it doesn’t shed on my robes or throw up behind the couch, and it sure as hell doesn’t CONSTANTLY prevent me from making love to my husband!!”

Hux was quiet for a while, looking down. When he spoke, what he said surprised Kylo.

“That last part; it’s not Milly’s fault, it’s mine.”

“Excuse me?”

“Milly just provides reasons for me to abstain, but in truth, it’s just me. Avoiding being intimate with you.”

Kylo sat down, hard, on the edge of the bed.

“You - - are you saying, you don’t want me like that, anymore?”

Hux sat down with him, shaking his head. 

“No. If anything, it’s the opposite. Kylo, every year since we’ve gotten together, you’ve only grown more and more attractive. But then I look at myself in the mirror, and I see bags under my eyes. I see thinning hair. I see pale skin, and a scrawny body.”

Kylo thought about it, and, now that Hux was saying it, it made sense. How few times they had actually made love lately. How, when they DID, Hux always insisted that the light was off, or he kept on his shirt. How he almost seemed scared when Kylo started getting amorous with him, because he was afraid of what it would lead into. 

“I wish you had said this sooner. Because you’re wrong. You’re so wrong, I can’t even begin to explain WHY you’re wrong. Hux, I had a crush on you from the day Snoke introduced us. I thought you were an asshole, but at the same time, the hottest asshole I had ever seen. Then as time went on, I saw that you weren’t only hot, but _beautiful_. And every day, in every possible way, you get more beautiful. I love every freckle on your body, every hair on your head. And I always, ALWAYS, will. Okay?”

Hux didn’t answer, just leaned over and hugged him tightly.

“You have no idea how much I needed to hear that,” he muttered into Kylo’s shirt.

Then he pulled away and looked at Kylo anxiously. “If I hired somebody to train her, or got a cage so she was crated most of the day, could we keep Millicent then? Please?”

Kylo chuckled and patted Hux in the back. “I suppose that - -“

He stopped mid-sentence, staring at Millicent. Hux followed his shocked gaze and looked, as well.

At first glance, it appeared as though Millicent was blowing a bubble, from her nether-regions. And then the bubble squeaked, and moved.

“Oh my God,” Kylo said, jumping up. “I think she’s - -“

And then there was another bubble. 

Hux quickly went into the ‘fresher, grabbing a warm towel that he circled on the floor around her.

“H-how did this happen?”, Hux asked in awe, watching as another bubble made its appearance.

Kylo sheepishly confessed to Hux about the day several months ago, in the spring, when Millicent had escaped through the window that he had carelessly left open, and how he had spent a frantic half-day looking for her, before Hux got home.

Hux laughed and shook his head. “Well, I guess we know what she was doing, huh?”

He sat down on the floor, keeping a careful distance away from the growing family. Kylo sat with him.

All in all, about two hours later, Millicent was the proud mother to 6 adorable, multi-colored kittens. She had licked each one clean and now, exhausted, she purred as Hux gently pet her head and her babies nursed.

Kylo had brought in the bottle of wine, and they passed it back and forth between them, as they sat on the floor and watched the miracle unfold in front of them.

“So, I know we can’t keep them  
ALL,” Kylo said, “But I’d like to keep THAT one,” he told Hux, pointing at a velvety black kitten. 

“I’ll make you a deal; I can keep Millicent, you can keep - -“

“Vader,” Kylo supplied with a grin.

“You can keep _Vader_ , then. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

“Good,” Hux said, kissing him. “Hold on to that attitude, because there’s something else I want, too.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, I guess if I can handle Millicent, I can handle anything. Okay, what is it? What else do you want?”

Grinning wickedly, Hux leaned over and whispered,

“A baby.”


End file.
